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William O'Rourke
William O'Rourke, 1st Viscount Breffney, '''(13 April, 1733 - Present) is an Irish aristocrat of the O'Rourke family, Jacobite peer, and ambassador of King James III & XVIII. He was created Viscount Breffney in 1763. Biography '''Birth William was born into an aristocratic Irish family at the Jacobite court at the Palazzo Muti in Rome on the 13th of April, 1733. His father was William O'Rourke, Baron O'Rourke, who was a prominent Jacobite, serving with distinction at the Battle of Glen Shiel, and later briefly serving as King James' ambassador to the court at Argenteuil after the Rising of 1719. Education The Honourable William O'Rourke, as he was styled in Rome, (his father was a locally recognized Baron), was raised at the court of the Stuarts in exile, and was educated in the Palazzo Muti itself, learning Italian as his first language, though English was not a very secondary tounge, as he was considered to speak it very well and in a surprisingly native fashion. When he was sixteen, through his father's connections, William was admitted to the Collegio Clementino, a presitigious Roman university for the Roman and broader European elite. He excelled at arithmetic, oratory, history, and physiology, though was considered a quite wroth and troublesome presence, which was specifically noted by King James and the Jacobite court when he was very nearly engaged in a duel with Brownlow Cecil, the son and heir of the Marquess of Exeter, who was a Hanoverian supporter. Political Career After graduating from the Collegio Clementino in 1753, William remained at the Palazzo Muti for a time, until in 1755, he was dispatched by the King to assist Prince Charles in gaining support and funding for a possible Jacobite rising in the British isles. While these attempts were quite unsuccessful, William's career was not; he was appointed to be the Jacobite ambassador to Savoy in 1757, a post which he would keep for the next three years, until in 1760, his father passed away and William was simultaneously transferred to Vienna. In Vienna, he very quickly ran out of money gambling, and found the atmosphere and culture of Schonbrunn to be particularly dull compared to that of Rome. He negotiated with his King in Rome and eventually manuevered his way to achieving a position as a liason to the Jacobites in Saint Germain-en-Laye in early 1763, along with being made the first Viscount Breffney in the Jacobite peerage. At this time, Jacobite fortunes turned, and Prince Charles was recieved in Argenteuil in his father's name, and very soon after William was appointed as Ambassador of King James III & XVIII to the Court at Argenteuil. Personality and Appearance William was considered a very diplomatic figure, shifting from necessary silence to jovial amity and familiarity very quickly if the circumstances called. He was also noted to be a firm Jacobite and devout believer in the absolutism and divine right of kings which he represented, and similarly a fairly pious Catholic, though he did have a certain aptitude for all things Grandelumierian, whether it be their culture of extremely excessive gambling, fashion, and other sciences of debauchery. According to the Mademoiselle de Tinténiac, William looked "very English". He had a fairly tall, though well filled frame, not entirely slender nor adversely portly. He was also described as having a very kind face, with soft features and plump lips. He had blonde hair, though it was publicly covered by an often gray or white wig, and deep brown eyes. Titles, Styles and Honors '''13 April, 1733 - 11 June, 1760 '''The Honorable Mr. William O'Rourke '''11 June, 1760 - 26 January, 1763 '''The Right Honorable Lord O'Rourke '''26 January, 1763 - Present '''The Right Honorable Viscount Breffney